u/basscadence

I

I noticed not everyone was pumped about their 10am feeding this morning. When I moved aside some plants to take a head count, I can see that a couple of the girls look to be carrying eggs! They've only been in this setup for 13 days and I wasn't even sure they were mature, so I was not quite ready for this. But I do have extra tubs with extra floating plants that I can move the eggs to. I am brand new to water gardening and medaka, so any and all thoughts are welcome! There are 7 medaka in this 20gal outdoor mini pond.

Thanks for all the kind words on my last post! 💚 I wanted to update that my medaka arrived healthy and acclimated nicely. They were shy day 1, but quickly learned that the square floaty means food, and have been exploring and acting like happy fish.

I have some questions for anyone experienced with these little guys. I have only been feeding them a tiny amount of Hikari pellets (this video shows how much I give) as I expect they are dining on other live items and plant bits. Is that enough? Also, I neglected to ask the seller their age. Do we think they are fully mature? The square is 3.1 inches on a side, to help judge size. I'm wondering at what point I should start concerning myself about managing eggs.

I wasn't sure if I should post in the medaka sub. I'm so new and you guys are so nice here 🙏 thanks for any insight!

edit: sry if you listened with sound, my neighbors kiddos playing in the pool. they are having fun 😎

After lots of contemplation I've decided to add some fish to my mini pond. If for some reason they fail to thrive, I'm unlikely to replace them, so I want to make sure I do everything correctly.

The pond is 2mo old, planted, and to the best of my understanding is "cycled". The marginal plants are fairly new, I expect them to spread.

Aquarium pond strips all read within normal limits. I keep extra dechlorinated water on hand for top-offs since I get lots of evaporation. I've added a smart plug with both night fountain and airstone options, so I can enjoy the fountain at night but also turn it off and leave just the airstone so the fish can rest. There is a solar fountain during the day.

The extra little tubs are just holding extra plants as they multiply, I haven't had the heart to start throwing them away just yet.

I have a cover for the pond for at night (pictured), Hikari micro pellets and a feeding ring, and a net for transferring the fish.

Am I missing any steps or making any errors? Please be kind, this is my first attempt at water gardening and I am educated in this area mostly by Google and this sub. I'm really excited to add more life to my pond and hope that everything goes smoothly!